THE LEGAL REGIME SHAPING INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This article titled the ‘analysis of legal and institutional frameworks shaping international commercial arbitration in Nigeria: implications, challenges, and pathways for enhancement’ analyzed the various laws and institutions regulating the application of international commercial arbitration and the implications, challenges, and pathways for enhancement of the application of International Commercial Arbitration. An arbitration agreement is the contractual basis for the resolution of disputes by the arbitration process. In the case of international commercial arbitration there is not only a dispute but a dispute of a commercial nature involving other nationals or countries. The main objective of this research was to analyze the legal and institutional frameworks of the International commercial arbitration in Nigeria, to identify the various ways that judicial decisions can contribute in shaping the practice of International Commercial Arbitration, to unveil the intricacies and the challenges shaping the practice of international commercial arbitration in Nigeria and to recommend the various ways to address the challenges. The article adopted doctrinal method of research where it focused on the text and contexts of Statutes, case laws and other legal materials. The doctrinal method is overwhelmingly adopted as the research method for legal research across the globe. Doctrinal method combines analysis and syntheses of legal doctrines, rules, principles of law as well as practical policy, arguments. The article found out that international commercial arbitration emerged as the best method for resolving disputes with international elements between states, individuals and corporations. It is the unique and inherent nature of party autonomy in international arbitration that guarantees factors such as neutrality, flexibility etc, and drives the parties’ choice for it as against the views that international arbitration thrives because of the woes of the Judiciary. In conclusion, the article recommended that laws regulating commerce in the oil and gas sector, aviation sector, construction sector, maritime sector, investment sector etc should contain provisions deliberately promoting arbitration. It was also recommended that to address some of the challenges of this application of International Commercial Arbitration there is the need for intensification of awareness to the general public of the workings of international commercial arbitration and the need for further reforms in the practice of international commercial arbitration. The article has contributed to knowledge by foregrounding the primacy of international commercial arbitration practice particularly highlighting its relevance to participants, practitioners, and stakeholders across various sectors where international commercial arbitration is routinely employed for resolving commercial disputes.